On This Day

I notice that too. At the time, the Sunday game kicked off at 3pm but was shown on a three hour delay as it turned out.
It’s just a shame Ten Sydney failed to utilise its NSWRL coverage to full advantage, much like Seven Melbourne in the 1990s when it had AFL on weekends.

1 Like

I really enjoyed The Great TV Game Show and was disappointed when it didn’t return in 1990.

Good old Bob Shanks trying to Americanise the dumb Australian system by attempting to schedule some shows on the hour like they do in the US. The strategy effectively killed a lot of the new programming they introduced and resulted in the departure of the network’s programmer who had tried to argue with Shanks against the idea but was over ruled.

I’m aware Neighbours was still winning its slot most nights during this era. I’ll look up some figures and post tomorrow.

1 Like

I enjoyed it too. My brother got to be in the studio audience for what would be its final episode at the end of the year. I was annoyed that I didn’t get to go! But then I was “invited” (i.e. I was on a mailing list because I’d once been in the studio audience for The Comedy Company) to attend a studio taping at Nunawading for the pilot of Col’n Carpenter a few months later. Not sure I got the better end of the deal! :thinking:

3 Likes

On that day a Real Madrid v Manchester City game was played at mcg. GEM televised the Real Madrid Game v Man City live in Perth followed by a NRL on delayed telecast. This caused a lot of backlash for Perth viewers on WWOS social media venting fury towards Nine.

1 Like

Which the Broncos featured in nearly every Friday night, but that’s another discussion for another forum.

26 July 1965: SAS10 opens as Adelaide’s third commercial station. It is now SAS Seven.

2 Likes

Correct me if i’m wrong, but SAS switched to 7 after problems arose following their purchase by Robert Holmes a Court’s Bell Group.

ADS7 became owned by Kerry Stokes who at the time was invested in the Ten network on the east coast and Perth.
SAS10 was owned by TVW7 in Perth which was being aligned to the Seven Network. So it made sense to just “swap” the 2 channels over in Adelaide.

It was made easier as both ADS and SAS broadcast from the same TV tower, so in technical terms they literally just had to swap plugs between the 7 and 10 transmitters at Mt Lofty.

It was a more complex operation in terms of changing over all branding and programming inventory to match their new networks. Also complicated for ADS as Ten was changing its logo again a month later after the switch.

3 Likes

Speaking of changing logos, CTC-7 had in tough in 1989 because they had only a few months with the X TEN logo before dumping it for 10 TV Australia.

Coverage of the Games of the XXXth in London got underway on both Channel 9 and Foxtel. It was the only Summer Olympics the Pay TV operator showed coverage.

9’s coverage was criticised with simulcast on 9 and Gem as well as showing endless replays of swimming. Foxtel showed every gold medal event live on 8 dedicated channels.

I would have thought that the Day 1 went underway on the 28 July 2012 on Nine/Fox. Nine was slammed for its broadcast with endless replays of swimming and the commentary.


27 July 2014 - Perth viewers lost two hours of the telecast of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Instead, Channel TEN Perth had MasterChef, while on ONE they had Formula 1 Grand Prix over the Glasgow Games. This caused a lot of outrage on social media venting fury towards Network TEN's scheduling.

TEN should have aired the MasterChef Finale a week earlier than the Glasgow Games as I think that it is a waste to have MasterChef Finale clashing with the games.

That’s incorrect, Foxtel carried the two C7 Olympic channels in 2000.

2 Likes

C7 Sport aired 24/7 coverage of the Sydney Olympics alongside 7’s broadcast.

Yes, including on Foxtel (along with Optus and Austar).

1 Like

On this day in 1981:

83% of television sets in Sydney were tuned in to the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di on that evening. Half of Sydney’s audience watched the wedding on Nine.

Channel Peak rating at 8pm when the marriage was taking place
TCN 9 41
ABN 2 16
TEN 10 14
ATN 7 11

Channel 0/28, less than a year old, did not show the wedding.

Remarkably Nine’s coverage of the wedding was not the highest rating program of the week. That honour went to a romantic Australian story. The final episode of Seven’s mini series A Town Like Alice peaked at 42 on the Monday night. It was one of the channel’s only strong performers that week and it wasn’t enough to save them from third place on the weekly ratings table.

Channel July 26-August 1, 1981
TCN 9 37.5
TEN 10 23.5
ATN 7 22.7
ABN 2 14.7
0/28 1.6

Source: SMH.

4 Likes

Were all 4 networks showing BBC coverage or did some go rogue and go with ITV?

In Adelaide, ADS7 played a John Wayne movie instead of the Royal Wedding. It rated abysmally as could be expected. They were intending to show a delayed telecast of the wedding the next afternoon for those that missed it in prime time.

In regional SA, GTS4/BKN7 also opted out of covering the wedding.

All broadcast the BBC coverage. Interesting that Seven would have the top rating coverage of the Prince Andrew and Fergie wedding five years later when they exclusively aired the ITV presentation.


85% of homes with television in Melbourne were watching the royal wedding. Most were watching on Nine.

Channel Peak rating at 8pm when the marriage was taking place
GTV 9 34
ABV 2 20
ATV 10 17
HSV 7 14

Channel 0/28 did not show the wedding and rated zero.

Nine’s game show ratings juggernaut Sale Of The Century aired at the special time of 6pm on the night.

Sale Of The Century and Seven’s A Town Like Alice were the top rating shows for the week in Melbourne July 26-August 1, 1981. Both peaked at 44.

Source: The Age.

3 Likes

Always surprised me as the picture quality from the ITV satellite link was nowhere near as good as the BBC link.

5 Likes

They didn’t really set about providing an alternative unless you were into Turkish or Italian movies :stuck_out_tongue:

8pm Movie: Persche Si Uccide Magistrate (Italy)
9.30 Movie: Buynu Bükük (Turkey)

2 Likes

An On This Day that I’d forgotten until now.

The Opening Ceremony of the LA Olympic Games, seen in Australia on a Sunday morning.

Apparently it rated a 56 for its Sunday morning showing (not sure if this was in an individual city as I don’t think they reported network ratings in those days. It was probably the Sydney rating)

Also, in Perth with no Channel Ten presence, the Opening Ceremony and first week of competition was shown on Seven, with the second week and Closing Ceremony on Nine.

3 Likes